I started my surfing life as a grommet riding a Merrin surf mat as a kid and by the time I turned 16 and got a bit more serious about surfing, I pestered my Mum for one of those new Morey boogie boards like my cousin rode, but Mum bought me a red plastic ‘Belly Bogger’ from MIKE DAVIS DESIGNS in Kiama instead ( Mike didn’t stocked Morey’s back then and besides the Belly Bogger was Australian made anyways…so started my life as a ‘real’ surfer, riding a hard board and not something you had to blow up and deflate when you went home on the bus..lol….I rode the Belly bogger for about 12 months and got sick of being dropped in on and their lack of floatation , so after my older cousin introduce me to fibreglass kneeboards, the rest is history till recently my youngest son pulled out the Belly Bogger, repaired a couple of holes in the fins and we took it and my MT5 surf mat for a spin the other afternoon…
A few frame grabs below
Curtis on the Belly Bogger
Yep after the 30 years the lack of floatation is still the same….Bogger Vision below
The look of a happy MT5 rider
Mat Vision
After surfing both the bogger and the mat, I would lean more towards the mat for comfort and paddling, the bogger is faster on the wall but it s lack of floatation makes it harder work….my opinion?
Long Live the Surf Mat !
Below is a short video that I shot via my gopro camera
That looks like wicked fun! Do they still make them?
ReplyDeleteHi Prana
DeleteThey are, with alot more flex in them over a timber paipo and easy to duck dive! They were Australian made back in the late 70's and came in red or blue, you might see one for sale on EBay!
looks like fun..great that your surfing with your son
ReplyDeleteI saw tom fish's small plywood belly board with a big fin on it last weekend at the cove he's getting a cove pad put on it and I think and is supposed to try it out this
weekend... he's also got the helmet with the go pro hopefully he'll have some cool footage soon.
Thanks Tommy.... after working together all day it was great to have a surf with just the two of us out on the reef! Looking at him carrying the bogger was like looking back in the mirror 30 years ago...I first pushed him on a wave when he was six and were still surfing together seventeen years later! Looking forward to seeing some 'fish-vision' for the Cove!
DeleteI got blue one in '82... Mine had the short nose like this orange one but a mate had an orange one with a longer pointier nose
ReplyDeleteI can remember seeing the blue ones like this red one, and yes there was a model before mine with a pointier nose. The Morey Boogie was the death of these and mats back in the late 70's early 80's, so glad I kept my one stored away.Thanks for the comment mate!
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